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Forum Archive :
Books
Williams: Backgammon Live in London
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Dear all,
Please forgive this shameless plug but I am hoping that enough people are
interested to outweigh the spam effect for those who are not. As many of
you will know, every November Michael Main, (Mad Mike Monk), runs an
internationally attended backgammon tournament in London, England.
Last year we decided to put together a book celebrating the event. I am
very pleased to be able to announce that the book is now published and is
ready to order in both hardback and paperback formats. It brings together
match analysis, photographs, reminiscences and anecdotes from the three day
Live In London event in 2007.
Highlights include: Match analysis by backgammon expert Peter Bennet; A
backgammon seminar by Chris Bray, backgammon columnist with The
Independent; Quiz positions from the weekend analysed by Sean Williams; An
article on the role of luck in backgammon by Simon Morecroft; A seminar on
cube action in non-contact races by Adam Tansley; A history of Live in
London by Mike Main; Match analysis by Nicky Check; Thoughts on the future
of backgammon in the UK by Richard Biddle; A newcomer's perspective on the
tournament by Michael Williams.
The full colour hardback costs Euro 33.25 plus postage and packing and can
be ordered from here:
http://www.lulu.com/commerce/index.php?fBuyContent=2305106
The black and white paperback costs Euro 5.95 plus postage and packing and
can be ordered from here:
http://www.lulu.com/commerce/index.php?fBuyContent=2305159
The hardback looks great. The paperback is black and white and is much less
polished -- for example some of the boards are a bit grainy and the photos
are poor quality. It is more for people who are only interested in the
backgammon analysis.
Apologies again to those not interested. For those who are, please order
your copy now.
Sean
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Jon writes:
Euro 33.25? At first I thought that was a typo, but the website backs up
what (to me) is a crazy increase from the paperback Euro 5.95.
I might well pick up the paperback version. Maybe you should have gone
for a cheaper printing option for the hardback, afterall it's a bg book,
not an art book.
Jon
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Sean Williams writes:
Agree that the price hike is enormous. And we are selling it at cost!
Colour hardback printing is very expensive. But we wanted to really do
justice to the photos.
If you are not interested in the photos then I would strongly recommend
buying the paperback.
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Peter Bennet writes:
Jon -- the hardback IS more of an art book! It is, if you like, a high
quality souvenir of BG Live in London with full colour photos to give the
reader a flavour of Mike Main's annual BG festival. This has been very much
a labour of love on the part of all the contributors, particularly Sean who
collated the whole thing as well as contributing to it. Lulu allows those
who are interested in owning the hardback a way of doing so (albeit a
somewhat expensive way) without Sean or anyone else having to invest
serious money which may not be recouped.
For those who may be unfamiliar with Lulu -- printed copies of this book
simply do not exist ... they are printed to order as required. This helps
explain the high cost of the colour, hardback, version.
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luckyplayer writes:
Is there any bot analysis? Let's say you show a position, with added
commentary from you experts. Are there rollouts from Snowie or Gnu?
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Sean Williams writes:
There are a number of rollouts in the book but they are far from universal.
Peter Bennet's excellent match analyses use rollouts for crucial, close
decisions. My quiz positions were all extensively rolled out using Gnu 2/2.
My match analysis does not use rollouts but relies on Gnu 2-ply
evaluations. Adam Tansley's analysis of his match with Chris Bray contains
strong rollouts of critical decisions. Nicky Check's analysis relies on
Snowie evaluations.
We wanted to write something that would appeal to both the casual player
and the serious student. I think we have been fairly successful and that
there is something in the book for everyone. Inevitably there will be areas
where intermediates are left scratching their heads and experts are left
wanting more detail.
The paperback is priced at Euro 6 (approx. $12) plus postage and packing
which I believe to be extremely good value for a backgammon book of this
quality. However I realise that I am biased! I genuinely do not want anyone
to be disappointed.
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Peter Bennet writes:
I think I should just clarify Sean's answer to lucky player. There are no
data panels showing the results of rollouts anywhere in the book, although
Snowie and Gnu evaluations and rollouts have obviously been used as an aid
by the authors and are referred to in the text in various places. In the
pieces I have contributed I deliberately avoided references to Snowie
except in a very few places, because I felt that quite a large proportion
of the target audience for the book would be more interested in logical
explanations for the plays rather than Snowie equities, which they may not
understand or be interested in.
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